Dane Cook only needed to utter one word to know his show Friday night was going to be a success. When he whispered ‘pickles’ into the microphone, the sellout crowd at Goldstein Auditorium immediately recognized the allusion to one of his favorite jokes, set at a sexually charged Burger King drive-thru.

‘This crowd is badass,’ Cook said as spectators roared, pumped their fists in the air and jumped out of their seats.

‘We’re not just gonna have fun,’ he said. ‘The Dane Train’s in motion!’

Cook began his show with a new twist on his old Burger King story. The original tale recounted his own experience as a fast-food employee, but he was on the other side of the counter in the new version, purchasing some deceitfully jovial French fries.

‘I don’t know who the photographer is that does the fries, but they just speak to me,’ he said. ”Devour our French fry souls.”

Cook also described his biggest desires of the past year – a monkey and a mystery house.

‘I want an evil, shit-throwing monkey that makes faces that are unacceptable that I can dress in armor and have fights with,’ he said. ‘And I want a house with a boxing glove that comes out of the wall and punches people in the head.’

Real life events dominated much of the rest of Cook’s act, including his hatred for public bathrooms, the friend in a group that everyone hates and the typical way in which guys make a move on girls.

‘You use the line every guy uses every time,’ he said. ”You wanna watch a movie?’ And you know in your head you’re thinking, ‘She better not want to watch a fucking movie.”

Cook’s physical comedy nearly overshadowed his jokes, including impressions of arching French fries, Bob Barker as Gollum (from Lord of the Rings) and an overly energetic vomitter. These dead-on parodies left many in the crowd screaming for more.

‘It was absolutely hilarious,’ said Jayme Rubenstein, a senior in The College of Arts and Sciences. ‘He’s fresh every time; his material never gets old.’

‘It was the best night of my life,’ said Mark Schrenko, a sophomore industrial design major. ‘My hands are pink from clapping and my voice is gone. I’m totally obsessed with him.’

Schrenko and his friends got in line before 5 p.m. to get into the show and were rewarded with front-row seats. Cook stayed for nearly an hour after the show signing autographs, taking fan pictures and recording outgoing voicemail messages for die-hards like Schrenko. His agent and miniature Doberman Pinscher, Beast, looked on. Cook seemed eager to connect to his fans, asking them about the show and making sure that each autograph and photo was personalized.

‘Over the last two or three years, there’s been enormous word of mouth support from the fans,’ he said after the show. ‘It seems like the fans are just making more fans. I never thought people would be so into my bizarre sense of humor.’

Cook says his sense of humor is unique because it’s random – he works on his joke during his daily life, rather than taking time to sit down and write.

‘I was standing in line at Burger King,’ he said. ‘And I was like, ‘Fries never really look like that.’ So that became the basis of the story.’

‘His material is so funny because it’s so true,’ Schrenko said.

Cook names Bill Cosby, Martin Short and Charlie Chaplin among his influences, as well as ‘anyone who was fearless and just went for it.’

He has appeared in this year’s Farrelly brothers film, ‘Stuck On You,’ and is currently leading Comedy Central’s ‘Standup Showdown.’ Despite his growing fame and recent success in the world of film, Cook said he’s still in it for the stand-up.

‘That stuff is all fun, but I really just care about the shows,’ he said. ‘The movies and stuff are just like dessert. I’d rather do a live show any day of the week.’

Published on January 19, 2004 at 12:00 pm